George Santayana had irrational faith in reason - I have irrational faith in TV.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Emmy Analects and Predictions

Just bopping in here with a few observations and predictions about tonight's Prime Time Emmy Awards ...

The very first Emmy, given back in 1949, was given to a ventriloquist - there has to be some significance in that.

Al Gore's up for an award for his Current TV cable and internet venture. Would be great if he announced he was running for President, but I predict he won't (make the announcement tonight, that is).The Sopranos is deservedly nominated in a huge number of categories. The only real question, then, is in which category or categories it will lose. I'm predicting Michael Imperioli will not win Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for playing Christopher Moltisanti (though he did a superb job). The winner will be: Masi Oka for playing Hiro Nakamura on Heroes! Ugly Betty will win for Best Comedy Series, but Mary-Louise Parker will win for playing Nancy Botwin on Weeds.

And last prediction for this morning: look for Colbert to win Outstanding Music, Variety, or Comedy series...

About Me

Paul Levinson, PhD, is Professor of Communication &
Media Studies at Fordham University in New York City.His 8 nonfiction books, including The Soft Edge (1997),
Digital McLuhan (1999), Realspace (2003), Cellphone (2004), and New New Media (2009, 2nd edition 2012), have been the
subject of major articles in the New York Times, Wired, the Christian Science
Monitor, and have been translated into 12 languages. His science fiction novels include The Silk Code (1999, ebook 2012), Borrowed Tides (2001), TheConsciousness Plague (2002, 2013), The Pixel Eye (2003), The Plot To SaveSocrates (2006, ebook 2012), and Unburning Alexandria (2013).His short stories
have been nominated for Nebula, Hugo, Edgar, and Sturgeon Awards.Paul Levinson appears on "The
O'Reilly Factor" (Fox News), "The CBS Evening News,"“NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” (PBS),“Nightline” (ABC), NPR, and numerous
national and international TV and radio programs. His 1972 album, Twice Upon a Rhyme, was re-issued in 2009 (CD) and 2010 (remastered vinyl). He reviews the best of
television in his InfiniteRegress.tv blog, and was listed in The Chronicle of
Higher Education’s “Top 10 Academic Twitterers” in 2009.

e-mail received from a reader:Dear Paul, I just dreamed of airships flying between raindrops. I just returned from 2042 CE, where I sold my hardcover copy of The Plot to Save Socrates for seventy million Neo-Euros, because it had your response to this e-mail from way back in 2007 scotch-taped onto the inside of the cover. A Paul Levinson collector paid top Neo-Euro, because of the authentic archaic e-mail printout from you. It turns out that not many of your e-mails from before your tenure as CEO of HBO/Cinemax and terms as United Nations Secretary General will survive that far into the future. So, please respond to this e-mail, to help found my great-grandchildren's fortune. My Will will stipulate that they must share with your great grandchidren. Thanks! Tom